JOB TITLE:Young Carers Assessment, Review & Support Worker

JOB DESCRIPTION

JOB TITLE:Young Carers Assessment, Review & Support Worker

HOURS:21 x hours per week

SALARY:£20,000 pro rata (£12,000 per annum)

RESPONSIBLE TO:Young Carers Project Lead

LOCATION: Carers Hub Lambeth

LIASING WITH: All staff members from Help For Carers, YCP lead, Social Services and

Schools

Overall Purpose

To provide support to Young Carers in Lambeth as part of the Young Carers Project (YCP). The YCP works with children and young people (5-18yrs) who care for or help to care for a family member with a disability or long term illness. All services are aimed to support Young Carers in their caring role, promoting the needs of young carers to funders, statutory bodies and the wider community.

Job Summary

To assess, support and review the needs of Young Carers in Lambeth, responding to individual requests from Young Carers or their families, for information, advice and support as requested. To encourage Young Carers to actively engage with YCP activities and signpost or refer where appropriate.

Principle Duties and Responsibilities:

• Respond to individual YCP referrals or requests for advice and support and initiate contact with Young Carers and their families in Lambethto assess need

• Complete a Young Carers Project Assessment via a home visit to identify particular needs of young carers and their family to assess need and identify future support needs such as; learning/behavioural issues, gaining consent / info about medical/cultural needs.

• Regularly review Young Carers data/information/needs, liaising with the Team Lead.

• Refer and signpost Young Carers to a range of events, activities and trips within the Young Carers Project and Lambeth, geared to enabling Young Carers to enjoy peer interaction and age-appropriate activities, to encourage their involvement and the support of their families in these events.

• Maintain database and enter all information onto Young Carers Project data monitoring system to provide monthly reports.

• Complete administration tasks; i.e. telephone helpline, photocopying, letters and assist the Team Lead with updating leaflets / social media.

• Work in partnership with Young Carers, their parents and other professionals to identify areas of unmet need and possible ways to address these.

• Work with Young Carers Project, partners and relevant organisations, to address specific educational and social difficulties resulting from young caring - e.g.interrupted school attendance, lack of conducive environment for homework, lack of opportunity forsocial interaction

• Initiate new contacts and work with organisations in Lambeth who are of relevance to Young Carers, e.g. social care agencies, schools, youth clubs and other charities geared to working with children/young people.

• Support Young Carers Project Lead in Young Carers external events/trips/activities as and when requested.

Other Duties & Requirements:

• Maintain detailed, accurate and timely records of all client work onto the database.

• Respect confidential information obtained in the course of all duties

• Be familiar with the policies and procedures of Help For Carers and their implementation

• Work on their own initiative and as part of the core team

• Adhere to local and statutory requirements, and to best practice guidance, in relation to protection of children and young people at risk. To be committed to safeguarding the welfare of children by attending Safeguarding Children training locally

• Be familiar with the implementation of any policies, procedures or legislation which relate to safeguarding children and young people alerting the Team Lead immediately with any safeguarding concerns.

• Be aware of own training needs and attend study days as requested

• Keep abreast of all current legislation appertaining to young carers

• Represent and promote the aims and objectives of YCP Help For Carers

• Participate in the supervision process, attend induction and contribute to all other relevant meetings as and when requested

• The post holder at all times must carry out their duties and responsibilities with due regard to the organisations Quality and Diversity Policy.

• To carry out any other tasks at the discretion of the Young Carers Project Lead or any other member of the Senior Management Team of Help For Carers.

• Act at all times in accordance with the organisation’s policies and procedures

• Carry out other duties consistent with the post, as required by the Lead/Manager/CEO.

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PERSON SPECIFICATION

ESSENTIAL

Qualification

An appropriate relevant professional qualification in Health & Social Care, Information Advice & Guidance, Education, Youth Work or Community Development.

And/Or

Experience working with children, young people or young carers.

Knowledge and skills

Assessment of children’s / young people’s /family’s needsin relation to their educational, aspirational and support needs

An understanding of the effects of disability and responsibilities of being a young carer

Excellent understanding and experience of IT Microsoft Office Word, Excel and database monitoring systems a working knowledge of Microsoft Office - an understanding of confidentiality

Awareness of relevant legislation appertaining to children, young people, and young carers including safeguarding children

An understanding of the principles of risk management and assessing risk

Experience & Abilities

Experience of working directly with children, young people or families in a relevant setting e.g.social work, education, youth work, or community development

Experience of answering the telephone and dealing with personal enquiries in a

Sensitive and confident manner

Ability to recognise the needs of children/young people / young carers and report any significant changes in the physical and or emotional well-being of individuals

Representing an organisation and developing a network of contacts in the local community and appropriate regional and national organisations

Experience of using monitoring/data systems to input and collate information in order to submit monthly reports to the Team Lead.

Communicate effectively both verbally and in writing to a wide range of audiences

Develop and maintain links with partners from all sections of the voluntary and statutory sector as part of ‘community development’.

Other:

To be willing to work flexibly according to the needs of the organisation i.e. attending home visits outside office hours if and when required on occasion

Organise own workload and be self-servicing

To be able to work alone, as part of a team and use own initiative

Desirable

Experience:

Previous Experience working with Young Carers

Knowledge and Skills

Understanding and Knowledge of the referral process (CAF) for those individuals with additional needs